Various staple removers have been disclosed in the prior art and are in common everyday usage. One of the simplest types of such staple removers is a "blade" remover. The tip of the blade is fitted under the staple in a object and the blade is tapered or wedged shape so that movement of the blade under the staple raises the staple up from the object. For example, such a staple remover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,951 (Rogers), where the blade staple remover is attached to a stapler and includes a retaining clip for keeping the staples on the blade. A blade-type staple remover including a housing for removed staples at the upper end of the blade is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,482 (Viel). An L-shaped staple remover with a slightly arcuate blade has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,823 (Goldy). Another arcuate staple remover which includes slots 36 on either side of the blade in which the ends of the staple are retained is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,737 (Yi).
Another and perhaps the most popular type of staple remove has two opposed claw members and is operated in a pincer-like fashion. This basic design is disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. No. 160,420 (Pankonin). Various improvements to this basic device have been proposed in the prior art. For example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,974,999 (Bertolet) and 4,054,263 (Delia), magnet means have been added to the claw members to retain removed staples thereto. The provision of a container for removed staples with a pincer-like staple remover has also been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,057 (Nembhard et al). A pincer-like staple remover which includes a bar disposed between the claw members for removing broken or partially removed staples is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,272 (McAlister).
As staple removers are generally inexpensively made, in order to guide the claw members in a telescoping movement, various guide means have been provided. Typically, such guide means is the shaping of the claw members with a U or channel shape. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,591 (Fleming), the claw members include flanges which act as guides. In addition, the teeth of the claw members are also suitably bent to help guide the inner teeth between the outer teeth. In particular, the outer teeth are bent slightly outwards, and the inner teeth slightly inwards to facilitate this movement. Another pincer-like staple remover provided with curved tips is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,624,545 (Pankonin). In this patent, the outer teeth are movably spaced from one another in order to accept staples of different widths.
While various staple removers have been disclosed in the art, the removal of staples from an object such as a plurality of sheets of paper is not always easily accomplished. In order to work effectively, both the blade and pincer staple removers require the legs of the staple to be released almost simultaneously from the object. Unfortunately, all too frequently this does not occur so that the released leg of the staple pops up out of the object relative to the unreleased leg so that the staple remover is no longer effective for the unreleased leg. Typically, the user must then remove the staple with their fingers. In addition, the staples removed by the staple remover are prone to falling from the staple remover and onto the floor or into copiers or other machinery where damage may result.